Bricklayers, masons, plasterers, carpenters and roofers are among a raft of trades the construction industry hopes will become easier to recruit from abroad to ease chronic shortages to boost the housebuilding sector.
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has published a report calling for 20 different trades to be added to the Migration Advisory Committee’s occupation shortage list.
CLC industry-side chair and group chairman of MACE Mark Reynolds said: “A dynamic immigration system allows us to bridge gaps in workforce need and meet the people requirement for the sector’s pipeline of work.”
CLC said industry research shows 30,000 new recruits are needed to build an extra 10,000 new homes with bricklayers, groundwork operatives and site managers, particularly in demand.
National Federation of Builders policy director and report lead author James M Butcher said: “Construction faces a vacancy rate higher than the all-industry average, so it is fair to say we are in a worse position than many other industries. The occupations we have recommended are based on a solid evidential base for the sector’s need over the next five years.”
The Construction Industry Training Board has calculated 225,000 more workers will be needed over the next four years to meet demand.
Many in the construction industry hope MAC’s imminent report will include key construction roles in the occupation shortage list. This would allow employers to hire crucial staff on a lower salary threshold of just over £20,000 compared with the current ‘skilled worker’ threshold of £26,200 plus pay reduced visa fees.
Nearly half of small builders favour increased immigration, with 60% saying jobs are delayed due to difficulties hiring bricklayers and carpenters, according to a Federation of Master Builders (FMB) trade survey.
FMB chief executive Brian Berry said: “While immigration will help grow the construction sector, there still needs to be an investment in UK-based training to train the next generation of builders.”
There is a simple answer to shortages, train our own people and retain them by paying a decent wage but that costs money. Instead the answer is seen as importing cheap labour from abroad and underpaying it. Migrant workers are happy to be exploited this way, as although the pay is low it is more than they would get back home and they can put up with cheap overcrowded accommodation as they know it won’t last forever. A few years in the UK will provide the money for them to build or buy a house when they return. It might make economic sense for employers but it seems morally wrong somehow as our domestic would be carpenters and bricklayers languish in low paid jobs or on benefits.
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